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Special Diets/Dehydrating meat at what temp.?

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Expert: RawPalaeoGuy - 3/13/2008


Question
Hello, I am wondering and getting so many different answers as to what is the correct temp. to dehydrate meat at and kill most bacteria and prevent spoilage and still have its live enzymes and nutrients.  If you could help me with this I would be forever grateful.

Answer
Well, everyone seems to have a different opinion re the maximum/minimum temperature to dehydrate meats at. For Raw-Animal-Foodists, the recommended maximum temperature  for dehydrating meats is 104 degrees Fahrenheit(= 40 degrees Celsius), although some prefer temperatures as low as 95 or 98 degrees Fahrenheit - this is because above 40 degrees Celsius, enzymes quickly become denatured and inactive and therefore useless. Killing off most bacteria would require a much higher temperature. Conventional nutritionists appear to recommend dehydrating to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit to make sure  the meat is "safe" from bacteria, but that means the food is basically useless re enzymes by that stage(most enzymes will not become completely inactive until food temperatures exceed 140 to 158 F in a wet state). Of course, rawists don't care about the issue of bacteria, and even view them as beneficial, so prefer much lower temperatures so as to benefit from both the bacteria and the enzymes.

HTH,
RPG  

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RawPalaeoGuy

Expertise

I can answer most questions on Raw Animal and Vegetable Food Diets such as the Primal Diet, an organic, raw-meat-based diet and a number of similiar all-raw or partially raw Paleolithic diets, such as the Instincto, Weston-Price, Neanderthin, Paleo and Stefansson Diets. Can also offer advice on how to resist social pressure to eat cooked foods etc. For further info on Raw-Animal-Food diets, it's a good idea to browse through GoodSamaritan's website, http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/ , and also to join the following two forums and read their message-archives :- rawpaleoforum.com and http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawpaleodiet/

Experience

I have been 8 years on a 99%+ raw version of the Palaeolithic Diet and experienced numerous health benefits as a result, being fully recovered from my previous symptoms from my cooked-food days. My own individualised raw, paleolithic diet routine is mostly based on Aajonus Vonderplanitz's Primal Diet(ie 99% raw, usage of "high-meat",no processed supplements, using primarily naturally-reared, organic or wild sources of raw foods) but, for personal reasons, I have also been, to some extent, influenced by ideas from:- Instincto(ie:- taste/instinct,no raw dairy/no raw veggie juice), Weston-Price(eg: preferring grassfed meat to grainfed meat, incorporating a wide variety of raw organ-meats into my diet along with the usual muscle-meats, and Vilhjalmur Stefansson(high-fat diet, pretty high proportion of (raw) animal food), but also eating some raw carbohydrates such as raw organic/wild fruit/veg/honeycomb etc.). I'm also a firm believer in the feast-and-famine idea (ie Intermittent Fasting) as regards boosting one's energy levels, and giving my body a rest from constant digestion.

Organizations
Rawpaleodiet Community(Comprising rawpaleoforum , rawpaleodiet yahoo group and the rawpaleodiet.com website among others).

Publications
Allexperts and Rawpaleodiet.com

Education/Credentials
No nutritional qualification(I don't believe in standard(misguided) nutritionist doctrine, so I don't feel the need). I simply rely on mine and many others' long-term experiences of raw, palaeolithic diets and I've read most of the books that are vaguely relevant to a raw-meat diet.

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